THE VICTIMS FAMILY/MORRIS MARINA TOUR DIARY

Starring:
Shaun as the driver on the road to rock n roll oblivion!
Morris Marina as the nightmare in transit!

And Introducing: The Victims Family Crew
Ralph Spight: guitar and vocals
Tim ‘Bucky’ Solyan: drums
Larry Boothroyd: bass 

Assisted by: Josh Ray: sound and sales
Hetty: Tour coordinator and Diks van driver

SPERMBIRDS/VICTIMS FAMILY/RECTIFY
Newport TJs

I departed home at about 12.30, allowing enough time to get to Newport and give me a chance to find a decent place to park and find Rockaway Records.  I was pretty nervous of my car on the way as it hasn’t always been the most reliable of vehicles (as certain people on an ill-fated journey to Leamington Spa to see Shudder To Think will testify). Travelling along all the A roads gives you chance to see some pretty nice scenery and towns (particularly Bradford Upon Avon).  Having made it to the motorway with a couple of brief rest breaks, I headed towards the Severn Bridge and Wales.  The bridge is pretty spectacular in size, and offers a mean view in all directions.

A straightforward drive took me into Newport and I found a place to park easily enough.

Check out the monument by the river! I headed in the general direction of the shops and found the Provisions Market, home of Rockaway Records (run by Simon, who helps put on the shows in Newport). Hung out til closing time, checking out the great selection of new and secondhand records – picking up a couple of bargains with the ‘Happy World’ 7” and the  World Class Punk’ Rior cassette. Headed over to TJ’s after my first portion of chips of the tour so far.

Simon had been hassling me to come to a Newport gig for ages and this one promised to be a treat. TJ’s is quite a small place, but just about the right size for this kind of show, i.e. not too full, not too empty.  As it’s a club things start and finish a bit later too which meant a fair while sitting around and waiting. Most people didn’t start coming in til 9.30. A stall had been set up with tons of merchandise available (like a mini-market!) all at very reasonable prices too.

Rectify came on stage at about 9.50 and blasted out their hardcore attack to an appreciative audience (gosh! people dancing to a support band!).  I enjoyed Rectify live but it’s not what I’d choose to listen to at home. Their set was halted due to a broken bass drum pedal.

After a short break, the Victims Family took the stage and plenty of people gathered around to watch.  Even knowing the old songs they are still a great spectacle live. The quirky stops and changes never cease to amaze me, and they played a couple of songs way faster than their vinyl versions. Highlight was a song which reminded me of The Minutemen and talking to Ralph later he confessed an affection for both them and the Big Boys.  A couple of people in the crowd were literally stunned by the Family’s musical accomplishment and the new songs are easily added in to their set. After a short gap, they came back to finish with an ultra-fast ‘Anti Satan Song For Mom’.

Again, after a brief gap, the Spermbirds hit the stage and knocked out their own brand of HC, putting in tons of energy and huge riffs aplenty. Lee (singer) was slightly perplexed at a girl screaming at the side of the stage, “I want to come on your fucking face!” She was quite adamant about it too! The masses of people dancing sucked up all the energy the Spermbirds gave and after about 40 minutes, it got a bit too much for me, so I went outside for a while til the encore of ‘Shit Job’, which went down a storm.

The piles of sweaty people went home contented. They even found it in themselves to donate £40 to Victims Family who had had their tyres slashed by some arseholes outside the venue earlier. I eventually left at about 3am to go back to Simon’s with him and a couple of other guys (sorry, forgot your names already!). Over a nice hot cup of tea, we chuckled at the local newspaper with Pig from Rectify and Chaos from Chaos U.K. in a full colour cover, with a centre page spread about the Newport HC scene. Good stuff, which will hopefully encourage others to support one of the best scenes I’ve come across.

After that it seemed like a good idea to get some sleep as we had to be up early next morning.

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HAVE YOU BEEN IN ANY PREVIOUS BANDS?

Larry: Yeah, lots of ’em. The one right before VF was Skirt Boys, a sort of mid tempo, groovin’ peace punk band.
Tim: Only a local metal sort of Victims Family outfit.
Ralph: I was in a sort of power pop thing.

WHAT WERE YOUR CHILDHOOD AMBITIONS?

Larry wanted to play music and travel in a van! Ralph wanted to play baseball until he discovered guitar. Tim had no childhood ambitions.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE HEAD OF THE NEW JAZZCORE EXPLOSION?

Larry: It wasn’t us, we were outta town, you can’t prove anything! No, but really, if jazzcore means breaking down barriers, that’s cool, but if it’s just this year’s trend – fuck it!
Tim: I could hardly call it jazzcore. I think that’s a bogus description.  I personally feel 2nd to No Means No if there were some chart.
Ralph: Or John Zorn.